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We all know about the anniversary sale going on at Nordstrom...early access for cardholders. I was lucky enough to get a Nordstrom debit card years ago. A Nordstrom credit card would be NO GOOD in my hands especially during this sale. {I don't think they offer the debit card any longer.}

If you don't have a card the sale will be open to you next week. However some things will be sold out. They will restock some but not all.

I love love love this sale and look forward to it every year. Great NEW fall pieces at a discount.

Here are a few things I got. I will not keep all of them at all. {I do it every year...buy online, try on, and if I don't LOVE, it goes back.}

Also, if Amazon and Nordstrom could get together and not have Prime Day and Anni Sale within 2 days of each other that would be great.

Click on the "words" and it will take you directly to the item on the Nordstrom website.
{Side note: pardon my lack of creative link posting...this is not a fashion blog but I feel all moms or others like me could benefit from this sale so I wanted to share.}

Best workout pants EVER!
I will 1000% for sure keep these. I have two pairs. One that I have worn (worn out) for 3+ years. I bought a bigger size while pregnant with Troy and I still wear them today even though they are way too big. They are that good.

SPANX® Faux Leather Leggings
I will more then likely return these. I bought them because others said this was one of the hottest items on the sale and they would sell out. I am just not sure how many chances I would have to wear them. I'll see what they look like and go from there.

Zella Lexi High Waist Relaxed Leggings
I hate to even include these because THEY ARE ALREADY SOLD OUT, but just in case there is a restock...if these fit like the Zella black leggings above then I will wear them like once a week.

Halogen V back top
I kept going back to this top. Its just cute. Appropriate for work or anytime I want something besides a tshirt.

I purchased this one in the tan-white pattern and its sold out in most sizes. I have a black blazer from Target that I throw on with jeans and a tshirt for work all during the fall/winter. Any color would be a great buy for sure.

No jeans for me although there are some great deals on them. I like Old Navy's Rockstars and I can't cheat on them. Fit and price can't be beat. And dresses...if you have a special event this fall/winter go check out the dresses. Great ones! I am not going anywhere that I know of where I would need a new dress so they were at the bottom of my priorities. You can spend $1000's on this sale if you don't prioritize.

And shoes. There are some great great buys on shoes...flats, booties, tall boots, even a few sandals. I did not order any shoes because I have the staple ones I like and again it was a priority thing. However, if you have been needing a staple classic riding boot or a bootie this is the place and the time to invest.

I did get a few more things...pajamas and bandeau bras. Again, I know the above selections add up. Once I get them and try them on I really try to be strict with myself. If I don't absolutely love then it goes back. You know those items you have in your closet that you go to again and again and you feel good wearing them...like that.

Also, I hope to do a separate post but I did listen to the audio book of Magic of Tidying Up. Although I did not go EXACTLY by the book I really did keep her principles in my head as I have gone through and organized our home from moving in three years ago. I have always preferred more neutral colored clothes...white, beige, black, navy, gray. I thought that was weird so I would buy bright colorful tops, etc and they would hang in my closet. I would always reach for the neutrals. I started following Living With Landyn. She keeps a pretty neutral wardrobe. Between her and the book I did a major closet clean out. I still did not part with some colorful things but I LOVE walking into my closet now. And it keeps me from overbuying. I'd rather spend $20-$30 on a quality great white tshirt that I will wear all the time than have 5 $5 tshirts that take up space and lose shape or don't wash well. Don't get me wrong, I have a few (white, black, navy) tshirts from Target that do all those things...and I love TJMaxx, Marshalls for clothes and Home Goods for home but if I go to those places I say one or two things. That's it. Money is still money and even though it may be a great deal its not free and then I have to store it and go through it later on.

Lastly, yes I follow mom bloggers, fashion bloggers, home bloggers, etc. A few of the big name fashion bloggers are more my sisters age. And more all the things she is...cute as a button....like 5'10" and 120 pounds. So as I was watching instastories the morning the sale started they were ALL going NUTS over this one sweater...first one blogger and I was like ummm thats not that cute...and then another one posted it and another. (and these girls have like a 100,000 followers...they know their stuff). All the buzz was how this was the most sought after sale item and it would be gone in no time. WHAT?

I ALMOST ORDERED IT. Just because "everybody else was doing it". Yes this looks cute on these young cute girls. But I don't know. Its a little too Charlie Brown meets Mr. Rogers right? Maybe I'm wrong but once it was in my cart I was like I can't, I will never wear this, I just can't.

And they were right. Its gone. Sold out. In a day. I should have got it for my sister for Christmas...I would have been the coolest older sister ever. Dang it.

Love the show and stole the name but its perfect. Everyone and every family has their US...here is ours.

About last night. So today is our 14th wedding anniversary. We couldn't do much today because of Joe's schedule so we kind of celebrated last night. And by kind of I mean kind of. Our lives are crazy and Joe is not a planner so between 4 kids, work, and my take-it-hour-by-hour schedule at 5:30pm I told him we had cans of tuna and boxes of au gratin potatoes that I would fix for supper. I was later then I thought getting home...so I walk in the door at 7:30 thinking we were having sandwiches...my plan B...and Joe had the potatoes in the oven and was crumbling toasted bread for the tuna patties. Awesome! So I jump right in. Well that in itself was fun because he's a smoker and a griller not a kitchen cook. Dinner was delicious and it describes us perfectly. He loaded the dishwasher and washed all the dishes. Its how he says I love you. And I love it.

So fast forward to 10pm. Yep our kids are having a great summer...even the 2 year old stays up. Whatever. I go lay down in Kate's room (5 yr old) with the 2 yr old. Kate in her bed and me on the floor mattress with the 2 year old. Kate is whining about wanting to lay with me and this and that (more than usual) so I tell her fine go lay with daddy. He's in our king size bed. I am not jealous at all. He's sleeping alone in our king size bed...I am on a bunky mattress on the floor with a still awake 2 year old. Whatever. Anywho. Kate walks into his our room. Here is where it gets CraZy. 4 kids. Anything goes. So apparently she leans into his face to tell him to scoot over. And then she barfs. In his face. And then because that's not good enough. She starts walking/running somewhere and continues to throw up on the bedroom floor and the bathroom rug. What the heck. After the dust settled I had a stern convo with her about how you throw up. She's 5. She can do better. I said please just stay on the hard floor away from beds and rugs and puke. Right there. In a pile. We went over this a few more times because the nights still young and I have no idea if it will happen again. Joe and I both jumped into action (I heard commotion and ran into the room) cleaning up all the puke...putting stuff in the washer with so much bleach and ALL THE FUN THINGS married couples do on anniversary eve.

We always say we should write a book. All. The. Things. Honestly I am so thankful I get to do life and family with Joe. There is just something so magical about raising a family with your husband who is more than your best friend...he's like a mirror image of you. You feel the same things as you go through the same things and no one else quite understands exactly what the both of you are feeling while going through the things.

Joe was engaged before and I was engaged before. I had a dream. Like I HAD A DREAM. No really it was a turning point for sure. At 21 in college. I dreamed I was getting married, wedding day getting married, walking down the aisle getting married. It was so vivid. In our big catholic church. As I started walking down the long aisle I quickly realized the person I was walking to was not my current significant other. Whoa. So in my dream my head is scrambling trying to figure out who this boy is. Hmmm. He kind of looked like a classmate of mine but it wasn't that person. Very vivid. Very real. As I past the 3rd row from the front there sat my current significant other. What. Most of the dream was me trying to figure out this boy I was walking towards. Woke up the next morning in shock and the biggest gut feeling ever. Broke off the engagement. Just like that. And started hanging out with some hometown friends.

A few months later I met a guy. Neither of us were crazy about settling down. Over the next year we had more fun than ever. We were dating but we did more hanging out with mutual friends, his brothers, their girlfriends, etc all in our hometown. Everyone started getting engaged and married. I think we went to, or were in, 50 weddings in the course of a year. But nothing for us. We talked marriage but he never pushed go. I got frustrated feeling left out. Finally once I just started being patient he proposed. A year and two weeks later we were married. July 12, 2003. Walking up the aisle. It was my dream and my dream guy. Not joking. He has all the vivid features from my past dream. I can still picture the dream. And its Joe. Crazy! And some divine intervention for sure.

One of Joe's best friends told me one time that he is the "salt of the earth' kind of guy. (salt of the earth definition, an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society. )
Not that I think I married a king or anything but I sure got a good one. He is the guy I hope my daughters marry and the guy that I want my sons to be.

This would probably embarrass him so I kept it much shorter than the words in my head. We all have good guys. He is def not the only one. I am just happy I get to do this with him.

I came home this morning from taking the oldest to camp to this. I know it sounds so cliche BUT this is exactly all the things with us. Thoughtfulness goes such a long way. Evidently he went flowering picking this morning. At our home. On our land. You can't buy that.

Here are some pictures of my dress. I LOVED my dress. I cried when I took it off after wearing it maybe 11 hours. I want to wear it again. IS that weird??
These 3 were taken by my FRIEND Jami at the Cathedral in downtown Dallas.
Side note: We were a year shy of the digital age so these are pictures of pictures I snapped in the album with my iPhone.

Best day ever...(photos Morgan Photography)

Best wedding party ever!

And we had so much fun!
He had me at our first dance years before this...

This was not the original plan. And it was the only thing that didn't go exactly as I had pictured. We were supposed to ride away into the sunset (or 11pm...we were having so much fun and didn't want to leave!!) in a vintage Rolls Royce. But I missed the confirmation voicemail from the car company the day before on my parents home phone so they cancelled our order...ugh. Whatever.

Fresh house. Touch up paint on the doors (actually painted entire things), a pressure washed house, a mowed yard, extra green grass thanks to all of our July rain, pretty blue sky after a week of on and off raining...Home.

I wrote this post in January but kept it in drafts...not sure why...so I have gone through and edited to update and am posting. Also, I am excited to get started on posting updates of the organizing I have done. {Updates are in here}

Last year at exactly this same time I said to myself come hell or high water we will get a barn this year.

Ava's passion is leading us down a path I can honestly say I never would have imagined. Getting this done was no easy task. For one we are busy people. So squeezing in the time was crazy. And then the expense. That was a doozy to get moving. Just when I had given up and thought we would have to wait it all started falling into place.

Here it is

More of my resolution was to inexpensively close in our garage and knock out a wall in our kitchen and then another in the playroom to open up our garage turn it into a family room. So now the kitchen is open to an area where our farmhouse table sits and once you walk past it you are in the family room and the family room exits to our patio (old driveway). {It is still not finished! And I am not sure when it will be. I know exactly what furniture I want...I will do an inspo board post on that.}

Also I resolved to get a handle on our "stuff" in the house. What could I really do without? And then ORGANIZE what was left. Adding shelves as tall as the wall helped tremendously in the laundry room, small closet off playroom, and old dining room. I took all the kids books and we went through and kept the most cherished. I took all our board games and cut out the lids and put them in big 2 gallon bags so they would fit behind the doors of the bookshelves. And it just goes on and on. And I am still working on it.

Resolutions get a bad rap. But I love them. I love goals. I love a fresh start. So I will keep continuing to organize because I have realized that I really do love it. I am somewhat passionate about it and you know what they say about things you are passionate about.

My 2017 goals or resolutions if you will:
Complete the new family room
Complete the barn--we still need a tack room and then organize all that. Yippee! {Done. Thanks to some great family members}
Take on a healthy lifestyle for our whole family and start working out again. {Ummm...I should be doing that as I type}
Keep up with this blog better (post pictures of all my organizing) {you know its only July...better late then never}
Post more to my instagram ~ markettofarmhouse (that community is amazing. Amazing. so many wonderful women lifting each other up. its my jam.) {Doing that but the follower thing is HARD. People follow you only to market themselves, then unfollow you. Frustrating. I try the hashtag thing but its hard to stay on top of too....plus you have to stage your photos at least a little. Its still a goal and I will keep trying.}